Death and Relaxation (Ordinary Magic #1)(90)

“He says he didn’t have any bullets in his gun.”

“Yeah, I heard him yelling that all day yesterday.”

“I believe him.”

Myra paused and the crowd noise around her grew louder. Children laughing and squealing, people talking, and in the background, a voice I recognized as Thor crooning out a rock-n-roll ballad. He had a good voice.

“You believe Dan Perkin—who was standing right in front of you and pulled the trigger—didn’t shoot you,” she said. “Have you lost your mind?”

“Did you find the bullet casings?”

“Yes.”

“Did you check to make sure they were the correct bullets for Dan’s gun?”

“We’re processing the evidence.”

I waited.

“Not yet,” she said. “You were shot, Delaney. In surgery. Jean and I stayed with you after we locked up Dan. Then you ran away to a bar. That morning I’d had to run dawn crowd control for the regatta blessing. We haven’t had time to do anything else, and as far as I care, Dan can sit and stew.”

“How was the blessing?” I asked, realizing Myra probably hadn’t gotten any sleep in the last twenty-four hours.

“Poseidon almost drowned himself.”

Of course he did.

“So, pretty much like normal?” I couldn’t keep the smile out of my voice.

“It’s not funny, Del.”

“It’s kind of funny.”

“All right.” She huffed out a breath. “Let’s say Dan is innocent. Then who the hell shot you? That wound was not made by an imaginary bullet.”

“I think there was someone else out there.”

“I hate that idea.”

“Me too.”

“Do you have a lead on who might want you shot and Dan in jail?”

“Not really. But Dan said he talked to Walt, the night before Heim washed up.”

“Not following you on this.”

“Heim’s drowning.”

“Yes?”

“Dan makes a great fall guy. No one likes him. No one would miss him if he were locked away for murder. No one would argue that he was capable of being angry enough to pull a trigger on a judge over a rhubarb contest.”

“No one would have to argue that because he did pull the trigger.”

“Yeah,” I said. “I know. But if he’s telling the truth and there were no bullets in his gun, then he should be up on aggravated menacing charges of pointing a gun at a police officer instead of attempted murder.”

She sighed.

“How does Walt fit in with all this?”

“Dan saw him drinking at Chris’s bar the night before Heim died. He was bragging about making money. Earlier that night, Walt had been sitting with Margot Lapointe.”

“So?”

“Margot and Lila recently moved into a rental in Dan’s neighborhood.”

“Hold on.” The phone was muffled as she pulled it away. I heard her sharp whistle, then: “Down from there. Don’t lick the jellyfish!”

I grinned and wandered over to start a pot of coffee.

“Okay,” she said a couple seconds later. “Walt was talking to Margot. No crime in that. How does that link her or Dan to Heim’s death?”

“I don’t know yet. But outside my house I found something.”

“You went back to your house? Alone?”

“To get my car. Pearl dropped me off.”

“Why did I think you’d actually listen to her and stay put?”

“I have no idea. You know how I hate being sick on the couch.”

“Since when?”

“So I was looking through the bushes.”

“Delaney.”

“I found a feather.”

“That’s important because?”

“Lila and Margot have feathers in their hair.”

“Birds shed feathers all the time.”

“Not purple feathers.”

“You think Lila and Margot were in your driveway, with a gun, at the same time as Dan, waiting for him to pretend-shoot you, so they could for real shoot you and frame him for the crime? That’s a complicated and unlikely plan.”

“But not impossible.”

“Almost impossible. Which you’d realize if you weren’t high on Percocet.”

“I’m not high. Just…floaty.”

“One feather doesn’t implicate Lila or Margot.”

“I know. We need to talk to Walt. See if he let anyone get on that boat with Heim.”

“We will handle that tomorrow,” she said firmly. “Not today. And by we, I mean Jean and me. You are going to go home and sleep before that wound gets infected.”

“Sleeping won’t stop an infection.”

“Delaney. This is me, telling you that if you don’t drop this murder case for at least one day, I am personally going to drive over there and tie you down to a cot.”

“Sounds kinky.”

“Well, if you want kinky, I can send Ryder your way. Jean told me about you two.”

What did Jean know? That we were dating? Well, that wasn’t even remotely true now.

“Hey,” I said, avoiding that conversation. “Have you seen him?” There was maybe a little too much worry in my voice.